Would You Change Your Vote?

Last year lawmakers in California changed the date of the Presidential primaries from June to February as they felt it would make our state more relevant in the Presidential race.  Apparently the change in date has not had the desired effect and in fact Pennsylvania and Indiana are more relevant this year than California—again.  As I have argued as long as California continues to be a winner-take-all state it will continue to have minimal relevance on the national scale; nonetheless the Governor and legislature felt joining the Super Tuesday crowd for the Presidential primaries would have relevance. 

 

Heading into Super Tuesday Hillary Clinton had 232 delegates and Barack Obama had 158 delegates.  After Super Tuesday the differential remained the same with Clinton at 818 and Obama at 730 delegates. (Note: this information per CNN website.  Given the strange and difficult to decipher rules governing the different primaries and caucuses plus super-delegates for the DNC other sites give slightly different counts.)  On Super Tuesday for the three Congressional Districts for Long Beach and surrounding areas (37^th—Laura Richardson; 39^th—Linda Sanchez; 46^th—Dana Rohrabacher) the turnout for the primary was high, according to The Green Papers website 257,497 voters cast ballots in the Democratic Primary.  Clinton won 53.8% of these voters and Obama won 42% in the area; the delegate count was closer than the popular vote with Clinton getting seven delegates and Obama six.

 

Since February 5^th the race has changed dramatically, not because of issues but because of approaches.  Read their speeches on issues and it is often very difficult to determine whose speech you are reading.  What has become the wedge is the politics of character, experiences, and associations; and most importantly I feel trust.  Democrats still waiting to cast their primary votes, be they in Lebanon, Pennsylvania or Warsaw, Indiana, or super-delegates in Denver, appear to be filtering more and more with whom they feel they can trust more before they cast their votes.  It has become personal, as evidenced by the campaign ads, the behind the scenes leaks and whispers and the public attacks of the opponent.

 

My question to the over quarter million Democrats who voted in our region on February 5^th is this:  Knowing what you know today about both candidates over ten weeks after you voted in the primary, would you change your vote?   If you would change your vote from Clinton to Obama, or vice-versa, why?  What issue(s) or information has given you voter remorse?  As well, if you would change your vote, do you wish that California had left its primary date in early June to give you more time to make your decision?

 

Click on comments below and let us know, would you vote differently today than you did on February 5, 2008 and why? 

 

Your thoughts welcome, click here to email me or on “Leave A Comment” below for public response.